Early saddles lacked stirrups and thereby had several shortcomings. For example, with no stirrups, the rider had to use his hands to better stay on the horse. This hindered his ability to perform tasks such as hunting. In addition, the rider suffered discomfort when the horse galloped in that he could not effectively separate his groin area from the horse's back.
The introduction of stirrups helped alleviate some of the aforementioned problems in that the rider could more easily “brace” himself by exerting force on the stirrups. Consequently, his hands were more free to hunt or otherwise control the horse. Furthermore, he could “stand” in the stirrups to separate his mid-section from a galloping horse's back.
The introduction of the stirrup, however, required a rigid frame or “tree” for anchoring the stirrup straps. For example, in order for the rider to “stand” in a stirrup, the stirrup must be firmly anchored to a rigid frame.
The stirrups' need for a rigid tree made a close fit of the saddle to the horse a necessity. A rigid frame that fit poorly could create pressure points that, for example, may be areas of concentrated pressure where a small section of the frame presses down on the bone of the horse. The result could range from chaffing the horse to major sores at pressure points on the horse. Consequently, the goal became trying to ensure the weight of the rider or pack was supported by muscle tissue on the animal's back without applying direct pressure to bone.
Attempts to custom fit rigid trees to specific horses presented a problem in that the same tree could not be used for other horses of different dimensions. Furthermore, one rigid frame could not be used on horses, mules, ponies and asses because of their differing sizes and shapes. In addition, not only do different species and different individual animals within the same species vary in size and shape, an individual animal itself may have varying sizes and shapes according to changes in age and diet. Finally, the complications with rigid trees grew in that any rider that used multiple horses with different shapes and sizes would suffer undue expense because no one tree worked for all horses.
Accordingly, there have been continuing attempts to create a readjustable saddle tree. Prior efforts to provide an adjustable saddle that may comfortably fit a variety of horse shapes include U.S. Pat. Nos. 121 (Jones) and 5,383,328 (Brown). These patents disclose methods of adjusting saddle trees in a limited number of ways. The prior art does not suggest a saddle tree that provides a sufficient level of adjustability to work with animals and riders of different shapes and sizes. Nor does the prior art contemplate a tree that provides satisfactory rigidity so as to prevent discomfort for the horse and rider. The present invention addresses these limitations.